


i don't want you like a best friend

by dykespeon



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Beta Concept Art Amity Blight, Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda, Childhood best friends to strangers to lovers, F/F, Soft. Very soft, Tags Subject to Change, The Owl House Beta Concept Art, except theyre like 28 now, if i ever make a solid reference for how they both look in this story ill show it off, luz and amity are both nd, no smut ever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 15:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30024216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dykespeon/pseuds/dykespeon
Summary: after 10 years of being apart, childhood best friends luz noceda and amity blight are back in each other's lives. how will they deal with the burden of falling in love with each other all over again?
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 11
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> dedicated to my buddy eli :) thanks for helping with the idea for this fic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have a playlist for these two btw https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5o0u9J0RcvpQibyj0Nc9ip?si=R-7MNxFCTYSHvVnWfKa3vA

_“I'll call you every day, okay?”_

_Luz basked in the way her friend reached up and held her face, using that sweet tone she only reserved for moments like this. She always savored these short times where Amity let down her rude exterior in front of her; to her knowledge, she was the only person Amity trusted enough to let herself be vulnerable around._

_Behind Luz was her new apartment that she and Amity spent the whole day unpacking her things in and decorating. Yet, she didn't want to go back inside. She just wanted to keep standing in this doorway being held by the girl she was in love with. She didn't want to let Amity go. Not yet._

_Maybe she should finally go through with what she really wanted to do and kiss her. Tell her how she felt for her, like one would a lover, and the ending to their story could be all the more tragic._

_Instead, of course, Luz reached down and pulled her friend into a hug, resting her head on the other girl's shoulder. “I'm gonna miss you.”_

****

Ten Years Later...

Luz stood in front of her bathroom mirror, trying to shake off the lingering thoughts of the past from her mind. It was the anniversary of Amity leaving Bonesborough forever, and it nagged at her every passing year. She did a once over of herself. She sure did look different than she did when she was 18. She'd abandoned her old beanie (but still kept it in her closet, she wasn't crazy) and didn't wear her old jacket everywhere anymore (or anywhere, for that matter). She felt more confidence in showing off her arms once she'd started working out and they'd been filled with tattoo sleeves. She'd gotten a septum piercing too, as well as snake bites. Her hair was now cut into a messy undercut, and the long sections of hair that used to hand down at the sides of her face were now cut short. She at least looked less depressed. Maybe therapy was actually helping.

Probably not enough though, because thoughts of Amity Blight still plagued her. She scolded herself for letting them disconnect while her friend went off to college. Something about them had just… faded. They gradually stopped talking and by the time Amity's first year was over, they were done speaking. No big fight or anything, just plain old growing apart. That made it hurt more to Luz, somehow. Maybe it was the way her naive teenage self wanted to think her and her best friend were soulmates or something. Amity was probably a completely different person now, but who could blame her? Luz was too. No more were her violent tendencies and constant enthusiasm of her highschool days. That was probably for the better. She at least felt like a more grounded, controlled person now.

Deciding she should probably go to bed given it was exactly 11 p.m., she turned off her bathroom lights and left the room back into her small hallway. To her left down the hall was a door leading to her room and to the right, the hall expanded into the living room and kitchen. Of course, she went to take the left path, but something unusual disrupted her: a knock on her front door.

 _What?_ Who'd be here for her at this hour? She swore to God that if it was Willow running from the cops again, she'd pummel her. “Just a minute!” she called, quickly running to her bedroom to struggle into a pair of sweatpants as fast as she could (one of the perks of living alone was never having to wear pants, of course). She then half-jogged her way to the front door, unlocking it quickly and opening it to a sight she couldn't have ever expected to see again.

Amity Blight stood in her doorway once more, looking up at Luz with a level of nervousness she'd never seen from her back in their 13-year-long friendship. “Um. Hi, Luz.”

• • •

In all the scenarios where Luz imagined meeting Amity again, she didn't consider it'd be so damn _awkward_. She expected a dramatic reunion or some type of argument that at least tied up the loose ends of why they stopped talking. But no, she sat at the end of her small dining table with Amity at the other, both of them silent and not knowing what to say. After Luz had invited her in, they'd both gone and sat down, but it seemed neither really knew what they should start with. She felt it'd be inappropriate to pour her heart out to her former best friend and get all emotional, it'd been a long, _long_ , time. They were adults now. Strangers.

Amity looked like she'd grown a lot, too. Her hair was now it's natural dark brown color, no longer being dyed bright mind green. She wore a black turtleneck and a nice pair of blue jeans as well. It looked casual, but put together as well. She carried herself like an adult now, and it showed.

“So…” Amity finally broke the silence. “I should probably tell you why I'm here.”

Luz couldn't help but notice that she sounded a lot more docile than the Amity Blight she knew. She wondered what the other woman had gone through in the past ten years.

“Yeah, that'd be, uh, good,” Luz finally responded, internally cringing at her own awkwardness.

Amity sighed, then began to speak. “I've been a lawyer for about three years now. I was doing really well for myself, but now I've just lost a massive case and I don't have the money I thought I'd have now. I wanted to come back here to reflect on myself and… you're the only person I know here. Ed and Em live in other cities and you remember what happened to my parents.”

Luz recalled seeing Amity's parents on the news back when she was 18, being arrested while the reporter spoke of charges about fraud and embezzlement. “Yeah, that was wild. Are they still in prison?”

“Yup. Never visited them, though.”

“Of course. Yeah.”

Another awkward silence. _Oh God. I shouldn't have asked. That's a sensitive topic. She's gonna think I'm weird or something. Shit, shit, shit–_

“So, anyway,” Amity started, sighing again. “You don't have to, but… can I stay here a couple weeks? I have some luggage of mine down in my car, and I'm okay with sleeping on the–”

“Okay,” Luz interjected. She'd be fine with this. It was just her childhood best friend and crush who looks super attractive now and is more successful than her. Living with her for a few weeks. _Shit. Well, too late to back out now._ “I've only got one bedroom, so I'll take the couch and let you have it.”

Amity rubbed the back of her neck. “Come on, I shouldn't do that to you in your own home. The couch is fine for me.”

“Really, I don't mind at all. You're a guest.”

“Are there… any alternatives in this scenario?”

Luz thought it over for a moment. Her bed _was_ a king size. They could both fit on there without any physical contact. “Well…”

• • •

And that's how she ended up with a woman she hadn't seen in ten years sleeping on the other side of her bed. It had been awkward to agree upon, but at least now they had gotten it over with. Still, the two could just pretend the other wasn't there. Well, Luz couldn't. Amity was ever so softly snoring on the other side of the bed. They both faced away from each other, but Luz stayed wide awake, recalling memories from long, long ago.

****

Twelve Years Ago...

_Luz laid in her bed on her side with an arm around her best friend, who had her face buried in Luz's chest and who held onto her as tight as she could. Cuddling like this was the usual for them. They were both tired of the world and they felt like they could at least take comfort in one another._

_“Luz,” Amity started, slightly muffled by her friend's chest, “can we stay together forever? I don't care about anyone else. You're the only one who understands me. I only want you.”_

_“We'll stick together, then,” Luz replied. “We don't need anyone else. You look out for me and I look out for you.”_

_“Yeah. Goodnight, Luz.”_

_Luz's hold on the other girl tightened a bit. “Goodnight, Amity.”_


	2. Chapter 2

Amity expected a big, angry, sad, emotional fight more than anything when she showed up on her old best friend's door step completely uninvited. She expected Luz to be angry at her for abandoning her, or to be outraged by Amity's audacity to ask for a place to stay after years of silence, or any other type of negative reaction she could've thought up in her head while running through the way the scenario could go over and over. But no, Luz had been so… calm. She heard her out, she didn't get invasive, and she let her back into her life. Maybe Amity had underestimated her.

Now, what Amity did _not_ expect was to be so attracted to her. Come on, her childhood crush but way buffer with tattoos and an undercut? AND she was now a way more rational person? Geez. What the hell was she supposed to do?

Obviously she wasn't going to express it or anything. That'd be weird. She didn't even know how Luz felt towards her right now. She could be very angry towards her and just not have said anything. Amity could keep it to herself and suppress it until she got over Luz again. Yeah. That'd work. She could do that.

It'd been a few days now, and Amity felt herself adjusting pretty well. Luz didn't have any bad living habits, and if she did she was doing a very good job of hiding them. The bed situation got less awkward over time, too, and it was pretty easy to ignore the uncomfortable amount of very gay memories it brought back up. Luz was out of the house most of the time on weekdays at work (Amity found out she owned and ran an animal shelter. God, could she get anymore perfect?). This gave Amity the time to explore the little apartment in the meantime when she wasn't doing leftover paperwork from her last case or going on walks.

At some point she'd taken interest in a bookshelf in Luz's living room. It seemed the woman hadn't changed much interest-wise, because it was filled with fantasy novels. The Lord of the Rings, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, etc. And of course, at the top, was the entire The Good Witch Azura series, hardcover and all.

Something was out of place, though. Books three and five were right next to each other, breaking the order of all seven books being in order. Wait. Seven? There were eight Azura books… and that's when Amity realized book four of the series was completely missing from the shelf. Amity knew Luz held onto her copies of the Azura series since she was eight years old in mint condition. Why would four be gone?

Her thought process was interrupted by the sound of the front door unlocking. Luz opened the door and came inside, looking tired from her day at work. Amity had totally forgotten it was already around 6 p.m.

“Hi, Luz. How was your day?” Amity asked, feeling compelled to be polite given that she and the other woman barely knew each other anymore.

Luz seemed startled for a moment before calming down. “Hey, Amity. Didn't realize you were there. My day was alright, thanks. What have you been up to?”

Amity looked at the bookshelf, then back at Luz. “Well I was looking around and I uh, noticed you only have seven Azura books on your shelf. Book four is missing. What happened to it?”

Luz stopped to think, her eyes squinting up trying to recall what had happened. After a moment, though, her eyes widened and she remembered. “Oh! I've got it! Uh, so… I lent it to you back when we were seniors. You re-reading the whole series. And you… never really gave it back.”

Amity felt immediate embarrassment recalling what had happened. She had to move out of the manor so quickly the summer her parents were arrested that she'd forgotten some items in her room. Specifically, the book was under her bed, hidden away from the rest of her family to make sure it'd stay safe. “Oh my God. It's still in my old room. Oh fuck.” She facepalmed, cringing at herself.

“Has it been there all these years?”

“Yeah. Probably caked in dust. Ugh, how did I forget about that?”

“... We could go look for it.”

“Huh?” Amity finally removed her hand from her face and gave her new roommate a questioning look.

Luz had a mischievous glint in her eyes. “They never tore down the building, right? We could go explore it, find the book.”

Amity crossed her arms. “That would be highly illegal and very stupid.”

Luz just smiled, taking a few slow steps towards her. “Did that ever stop us back then?”

Amity ignored the little flutter her heart had. “I wasn't highly educated in law back then and I had no sense of self preservation.”

“Yeah, but it was fuuun, wasn't it?”

“... You're gonna do this alone and get injured if I don't go along with it, aren't you?”

“Absolutely.”

Amity rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop herself from smiling. “Fine. Let's go.”

“YES!” Luz pumped a first in the air and grinned. “We have to go at night, though. Like, midnight.”

“Huh? Are you busy or something?”

“No, it'll just make it spookier.”

“You still act like a child sometimes, you know.” Amity looked amused rather than annoyed, though.

Luz's grin turned into more of a smirk, her eyes now squinted a bit. “Oh, I get it.”

Immediately feeling defensive, Amity crossed her arms. “Get what?”

“It's plain to all who can see.”

“What? What is it?”

“You're scaaared, aren't you?” Luz sounded like she was holding back laughter.

“Wha- I am not! I just don't see a point in going at night,” Amity retorted, feeling her face flush a bit in embarrassment.

“Can you hear that? It sounds like a _chicken_.”

“UGH, fine, we'll go at midnight!”

“WOO! Double win for me!”

• • •

“Remind me again, why did I agree to this?”

Amity sat in the passenger's seat of Luz's car, leaning her head against the window. They'd stopped by 7/11 on their drive to the mansion to grab iced coffees (their sleep schedule wasn't exactly adjusted to being up in the middle of the night) and flashlights for their mini expedition. Amity still felt like it was silly to be going through all this trouble for the book, but she _was_ the one who lost it, so she felt a slight moral obligation to go through with this. Plus, what, was she supposed to back down from being called a chicken? That was a next-level taunt.

“Because deep inside you know that this is gonna be fun?” Luz joked as she glanced at Amity.

“No, no, that's definitely not it.”

“Then you were intrigued by my charm, my wit, and my good looks?”

“No, it wasn't that either.”

“Ouch.”

The remainder of the drive was silent. At some point Amity felt herself starting to drift off to sleep, to which she immediately grabbed her iced coffee and downed the rest of it as fast as she could. She at least didn't wanna be sleepy for this whole trip. Soon, over the horizon the mansion could be spotted. It sat on a hill in the middle of a heavily wooded area just outside of down, with a long driveway going up to the estate. Luz drove as far as she could up the road until they were at a gate. She put the car in park and the pair stepped out, looking up at the large, run down manor.

Amity felt a flood of memories run through her– almost entirely bad ones, of course. The happy memories of her childhood mostly came from being with Luz. She avoided being at home as much as she could, and if she was there, she kept herself up in her room. It was a loveless home, at least when it came to her parents. Edric, Emira, and her all at least had each other, even if Amity was never very open with the two of them.

“Amity?” Luz quietly said, pulling the other woman out of her thoughts and also making her realize she was frowning. “We, uh, really don't have to do this if you don't want to. I know that this place is-”

“No, no, it's okay,” Amity cut in, her face softening up. “It's just… a lot, I guess. I haven't thought about the past in so long.”

“You're sure this is gonna be okay?”

“Yeah. I can handle it. Besides, losing the book is kind of my fault.”

Luz still looked concerned. “I can always get a new copy. It's just a silly book.”

Amity felt surprised to hear that. The old Luz would probably go to Hell and back to find it if she lost an Azura book. “No, really, let's do this. Besides, it'll be fun with you.” She offered the taller woman a smile.

Luz still seemed a little unconvinced, but smiled back anyway. “Well, okay. If you say so. Now come on, let's get over this fence.” She reached up and grabbed onto the bars of the gate, then hauled herself up fast enough to get her feet pressed against the gate. She pulled herself up once again, now managing to hop over the gate, landing perfectly on her feet.

Amity just stared the entire time in awe of the sheer upper body strength doing all that required. She then turned to the little keypad on the side of the road that actually opened the gate, inputting the code that she remembered by heart. As expected, the gate slowly opened up. “You didn't have to do all that, Luz.”

Luz, meanwhile, looked a mixture of dumbfounded and embarrassed. “Why didn't you say anything?”

Amity shrugged. “It was kinda funny.”

“Still ice cold, aren't you?”

She grinned. “Sure am.”

The pair now walked up the driveway, both pulling out and turning on their flashlights. Amity didn't expect to feel so at peace while going up to the doorstep of her old childhood home/place of torment. Maybe Luz's presence really was helping. The lawn was completely overgrown, with tall grasses and wildflowers and little mushrooms all over the place. There were even a few critters that skittered away as they approached; squirrels, rabbits, deer, the usual animals that lived out in the woods by her home years ago.

They finally reached the large front doors, which fell in when Amity tried to push them open. The wood it was made of was definitely rotted.

“Damn, this place got _wrecked_ by nature,” Luz observed when she stepped inside. The overgrowth had affected the first floor, too, with little plants sprouting through the floorboards. When Amity followed her inside, she thought she saw a bird's nest on the chandelier that hung down from the ceiling.

What Amity really focused on, though, was a large, framed family photo hanging on the leftmost wall. She remembered the day they had that photoshoot. Her mother had forced her to dye her hair the day before so she could match the rest of the family. She was only nine years old that day. In the photo itself, she could notice that she looked sad. Like her spirit had been killed, all for the orderly family her mother wanted. She had always been angry about the childhood she was robbed of, but also deeply saddened by it.

“Hey,” Luz said in a low voice, putting a hand on Amity's shoulder. She must've noticed the way Amity stared at the large picture on the wall. “Let's go get what we came for, yeah?”

Amity looked up at her and nodded in agreement. She wanted to take her mind off her parents. “Yeah. Let's go.”

Both of them remembered exactly where Amity's room was. There was a spiral staircase on the right side of the room that lead upwards, going into a narrow hallway. The two made their way up it, silent the entire time. Down past the doors to the guest rooms at the end of it was Amity's old room, untouched for ten years. Amity felt a sense of unease and anxiety as she approached it.

There was no avoiding the inevitable, though. They walked at a normal speed, but Amity felt like no time had passed when they got to the end of the hall. Luz reached out and opened the door to the room while Amity held her breath, anticipating what would rush back to her.

They walked in side by side. Everything was still the same varying shades of pink Amity had chosen to decorate with (she was always thankful that she at least had control over one little part of her home life). There were still plushies atop all her shelves and on her bed, coated in dust but still in tact. In fact, she noticed one particularly important plush on top of her bookshelf.

“Otabin!” Amity rushed over to her beloved rabbit plushie, named after the character from her favorite picture book series as a young child. “Oh, he's still here!” She picked him up, not caring that he was covered in dust or that she could feel tears in her eyes. “I missed you, buddy,” she whispered as she held the toy rabbit close to her.

If Luz had noticed her little outburst, she was polite enough not to say anything, as she had crawled onto the bed and was checking out the headboard. “Hey, get over here. Look what's still here.”

Now curious, Amity went over next to the bed and looked at the same spot on the headboard Luz was. There was a little carving clearly made hastily, but with care; _L+A_.

**Sixteen years ago…**

_Amity watched as Luz made a carving with a switched into her headboard, holding onto her plush rabbit. She felt nice letting her friend do something so against the rules that would be there permanently, like she was actually rebelling against her parents. This was the extent of what she could do without getting sent off to boarding school or something equally bad._

_“There,” Luz announced as she backed away from the headboard and revealed the carving. “That'll stay forever.”_

_Amity grinned, feeling immense joy seeing the two simple little letters next to each other. She moved one of her pillows to cover it up. “Can't let my parents see that. But thanks for putting it there.”_

_Luz smiled warmly at her. “We'll be together forever, yeah? Nothing in the world is gonna tear us apart.”_

_Amity felt a flutter in her heart. Luz was so sweet to her, unlike everyone else in her life. Back when they had first met as young, young children, nobody else wanted to play with Amity. All of them thought she was "boring" and "weird." Except for Luz. Luz had been outcasted too, constantly having outbursts and straight up being considered "weird" by everyone else, too. So, Luz gave her a chance, somehow still managing to be kind after everything she was put through. And naturally, Amity clinged to the one source of light in her world._

_“Yeah, we will,” Amity agreed, her smile widening. “We're meant to stay together.”_

• • •

“Gosh, that was so long ago,” Amity quietly said as she got on the bed as well to reach out and touch the carving. “Such a silly idea…” There was a clear fondness in her voice, though.

When she turned back around to Luz, it seemed as if the other woman had been staring intently at her. Their faces were way too close as well. Luz cleared her throat, seeming embarrassed now. “Uh, let's get that book. Underneath here, right?” She got off the bed and on her hands and knees on the floor, peering below.

Amity snapped out of her trance as well. Dwelling on any old memories for longer would probably make her start crying or something silly like that. “Yeah, under there. It's the only thing I hid there.”

Luz searched underneath until Amity saw a glint of recognition in her eyes, then the other woman reached under and pulled something out. Luz stood up and as expected, in her hands was The Good Witch Azura: Book 4. It was caked in dust, of course, but luckily it had gone undamaged. Luz had a stupidly large grin on her face.

“I didn't expect to be so happy to see it…” she murmured, opening it up and flipping through some of the pages. Amity felt her heart start to race seeing Luz so happy. Dammit, when was this dumb crush gonna fade?

“Well, we got what we came for, yeah?” Luz said after a couple more seconds of inspecting the book. “Let's bounce. We're probably inhaling so many fumes right now.”

Amity hopped off of the bed and onto her feet. She still held Otabin in her arms; there was no way she was letting him go again. “Yeah, let's get out of here.”

As the two left the room, now satisfied with how their little journey ended, Amity looked back at her room one last time. Maybe she'd overlooked the good memories of this old manor, too.


End file.
